168 replies to this topic

[Joscott]

The Braves keep rolling, sweeping a very good team in the Cardinals. The schedule from here to the all star break is heavily loaded with division games and interleague play with the AL East, no small task.

The bats have been backing up the pitchers of late, I'm hoping we get some more quality starts out of Delgado, Minor learns to keep it in the yard and Beachy keeps being himself.

Freeman quietly 3rd in the NL in RBIs, developing into quite the player.

[X-Clown]

Beachy is lights out

[Falcons1stPanthers2nd]

Beachy is lights out

Cy Young

[Hate]

Thanks for Derek Lowe

[Joscott]

Wait till that ERA is north of 5 by the end of the year to go along with that negative k/bb. Hell of a season for him so far though.

[Joscott]

Well, it's painfully clear Minor needs to lose his spot in the rotation. 3 Hr's to 3 straight batters, 4 total, one to a pitcher. Same crap the whole season.

Now it's only who will replace him, doubt they have the numbers Oswalt wants. Seems like they want to keep Medlen as long relief right now and Hernandez is a question mark to wether he can stil give you a solid outing. JJ and Teheren not really showing much in AAA.

[Joscott]

Not waiting till September to fall apart this year.

[B wood]

Alex Rodriguez hits a grand slam off a 3-2 pitch in the top of the 8th with ATL leading 4-0. lulz

Congratulations to A-Rod for tying Gehrig for most career grand slams at 23.

GO YANKEES

[Joscott]

So in who saw that coming news...there are reports that the starting rotation after the break will go Tim Hudson, Tommy Hanson, Ben Sheets

Pitching will play a big role in how well the braves do in the second half and it'll be interesting if starting Sheets is the only thing they do to shore up the starters. I'd hate to see them give up some of the young pitching prospects for a rental player. The pen has me most worried of all, hopefully Venters' vacation will prove to be a miracle and get his arm back on track. It has to be priority #1 at the trade deadline.

Shame on the Simmons hand injury...at least it looks like we'll be seeing great play at SS for years to come and hopefully in about 6 weeks he'll be back.

Should be an interesting trade deadline for a lot of teams.

[Joscott]

Thanks for Derek Lowe

Wait till that ERA is north of 5 by the end of the year to go along with that negative k/bb. Hell of a season for him so far though.

Still happy about it?

[AggieLean.]

Braves come thru with the comeback win last night, and take the first game of the double header today. Ben Sheets with another great outing. It's looking like a great pickup by Wren. Keep it up Bravos!

[Joscott]

Ryan Dempster a done deal to the Braves, unfortunatley, early word is that it cost them Delgado.

[Zaximus]

Yeah you get a guy with a 2.11 era though. Easily would have 10+ wins if my Cubbies didn't suck.

[Joscott]

It's definatley a win now trade and he has ridiculous numbers against the NL east this year. If he can keep his current pace, it definatley solidifies the rotation with a heavy veteren presense. Might be the push the Braves need to get past the Nats, especially if Strats gets shut down...they might have an interesting trade deadline too.

Delgado can however be a very solid 2-3 pitcher for years to come once he puts it all together. The cubs probably had their choice of Minor or Delgado, looks like Teheran iremains the only untouchable of the Braves big prospects.

-Edit-

And Now it Looks like the Braves have pulled out on the Dwight Howard sweepstakes.

[Joscott]

So can a closer really win the Cy Young?

Jayson Stark wrote a whole article on this a couple of weeks ago and followed up with this today in his awards.

So if this is going to be about who has pitched the best, in whatever role, the answer is Craig Kimbrel. Period. He's faced 227 hitters this year -- and has come within one K of striking out HALF of them (113). No pitcher in history has ever done that. Of those 227 hitters, only 26 of them have gotten a hit -- giving him the lowest opponent batting average (.123) ever (min. 50 IP). The OPS of those hitters? A microscopic .356 -- also a record for the six decades or so for which that OPS data is available. His 0.65 WHIP? The lowest by any NL reliever in history. His strikeout ratio of 16.5 per nine innings? Best of all time.

So I am of biased of course, but if a historic performance can't win it for a reliever, I don't think we will ever see another closer get it.

Looks like it Braves vs Cards in the one game playoff Friday. The Braves will get revenge from last year or St Louis will once again end their season. I'm not too excited for the new format but sending Kris Medlen out there sure makes you feel a lot better. He will be going for a 24th consecutive Braves win when he starts.